Permission to Love
by letterspluslovenotes
Summary: A new teacher has come to Fairy High, and his teacher assistant Wendy is a bit head over heels. When feelings begin to grow, complications follow - how will they cope with having to hide their relationship? What if they get caught? And better yet, will their friends approve?
1. A New Year and New Crush

**I don't exactly know how this will play out…**  
**Usually I've always been a Wendy/Romeo fan but recently, I find myself at a crossroads.**  
**This will be in both P.O.V's**

**Tell me what you think? c:**

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Permission to Love

. . .

Prologue

. . .

It wasn't supposed to be like this. She never thought that she'd become so emotionally attached to someone that the thought of them being taken away from her could end her. Now as she screamed at the stoned faces in front of her and tried desperately to claw her way through, she understood just how deadly a love like this could be. _This wasn't supposed to happen_, she reminded herself, trying one last time to jump on the men to get a closer view; catching a glimpse of silver rings around his hands. Her lungs stopped working and she soon found herself sprawled on the floor looking up at the blue sky. A glimpse of blonde hair and worried brown eyes pleaded for her to answer her question.

"_They know_."

. . .

Wendy

. . .

_If there was ever a way to explain high school, I'd be at loss for words. The friendships I had created throughout the previous three years in Fairy High had molded me in such a great way, that I am forever in debt to those who took me in as their own. Before entering high school, I was alone - my parents had been long ago passed and I was living in a small orphanage a few miles outside of Magnolia, named Cait Shelter. I had decided to venture into the bustling town, hoping to find a job to begin saving up jewels to live on my own when I came across a blonde haired girl that would, in the future, be one of my best friends. _

_Walking through the small shops around the marketplace and asking around for employment, I became distracted and didn't notice a small pebble on the floor. Right before my face could taste the stone-cobbled floor, a girl stopped my fall and quickly brought me back up with worried eyes. The small question of "Are you okay?" turned into a full conversation, one that would ultimately lead to us seeing each other every day. The days would roll on by and as summer came to close and we would be entering as freshmen the blonde girl, Lucy, would invite me to stay in her house permanently. _

_And now here I am, lying on my bed and scribbling on my small diary on the first day of my last year in high school. Since before entering Fairy High, Lucy and I would constantly dream of what it would be like to rule the halls and be able to call ourselves Seniors. I can hear her now running through the halls and screaming around for Virgo to help her find her stockings. I guess it's time for me to start getting dressed too… I wonder where I placed my stockings?_

_-W_

Sighing and stretching outwards, Wendy jumped off her bed and went straight for her closet. Looking at the many pieces of clothing (mostly hand-me-down's from Lucy and a few other articles of clothing she was able to buy with her bi-weekly paycheck), she hummed a soft tune as she picked out her school uniform - one that she'd be wearing for the next 180 days of her life. Hearing a quick knock on her door, she set down her uniform on the bed and walked towards it, opening to find a distressed blonde on the other side.

"Have you seen my-"  
"I think Natsu had burned it last year… by accident?"  
"THAT DRAGNEEL!" Lucy's hands flailed up into the air, bringing her fingers to her temples, "Wendy what do I wear? I can't get detention the first day of school!" Biting her lip, the bluenette looked around her room, an idea coming to her head, "You can wear a pair of mine?"

The blonde's face contorted, making Wendy giggle and look away as a blush came to her face. "Wendy you're like, the size of one of my thighs." At the comment, the newly turned Seniors burst out laughing, trying to stop but then looking at each other and starting again. "It's not my fault you're tall Lucy!" "Oh, and it's my fault you're so short?"

Before Wendy could reply, their maid Virgo came towards them with a (as usual) poker face, "Princess, I cannot find any stockings… you may punish me to your liking." Remembering her first few months in Lucy's house, Wendy covered her smile as her best friend rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and reminded the maid that she would never punish her in any way. It wasn't as if Jude, Lucy's father, had ever hurt any of his maids either - Virgo was just plain weird.

"I think Erza would have a pair?" the bluenette suggested, making her blonde friend '_ah!_' in response before walking towards her room, "Yea, I'll just ask her to bring it to school… See you in five!" Closing her door once again, a wider smile touching her lips, she began to get ready. Should her school ever be on a magazine, it'd be under that 'fashion fail' section. Looking in the mirror, Wendy sighed as her white short-sleeved button down shirt and black and white plaid skirt made her body seem more bland than usual. Cupping her breasts, she turned to the side and sighed once more - If it weren't for the 'wonder' bra Lucy had practically peer-pressured her into buying, she'd be looking like a plank with two sunny-side-up eggs on it.

Clucking her tongue, she unbuttoned three buttons and let the bright red tank-top underneath show proudly. Slipping on black flats and the five bracelets her friends had made for her, she grabbed her bag and walked towards the door. She stopped as her fingers touched the knob and turned back, her eyes scattering the room. "Carla?" she waited a few seconds before a part of her comforter lifted, a white cat peeking through and yawning lazily. "If you want to go out today, I suggest you get out now before Virgo goes off to buy Lucy some new stockings. Once she leaves, I don't know how much longer you'll stay stuck inside… maybe until I come back home."

Wendy didn't have to say anything else as the white cat meowed softly and jumped off the bed, momentarily stopping by her friend to cuddle before darting out of her room and towards the front door. Carla never stayed inside during the day, finding herself keeping company with the cats of Gajeel and Natsu. Sometimes Wendy wondered what went on between those three; it must be fun just being a cat.

Shaking her head, she walked out of her room and closed the door behind her before walking towards the main dining hall where breakfast was served. She could already smell the freshly done pancakes from the hallway, as well as the warm coffee awaiting for her to drink. Walking into the dining hall, she sat in the same seat she had for the past three years of her life and thanked the butler, Capricorn, for the delicious meal. It was already 7:15 AM, meaning she had fifteen to twenty minutes to eat before her and Lucy would drive towards school. Sipping her coffee and digging into the pancakes, her eyes rolled as they melted in her mouth.

Not a moment too soon Lucy came running in, a huge smile on her face as she sat next to Wendy and began eating as well. "Erza had a n extra pair, thank goodness! Could you imagine Principal Makarov's pervy face if he saw me without stockings?!" Wendy couldn't help but snicker as she swallowed another piece of pancake, "Our skirts are already rather short… and with his little size…"  
"He's shorter than you! Like, ten times shorter!"  
"Now _that's_ not normal!"

The girls laughed together and continued eating, before Capricorn came back towards them and reminded them of the time. Quickly cleaning their mouths and grabbing their items, both girls walked towards the door, Lucy momentarily looking back and calling out to Virgo to buy more than just one pair of stockings.

The bright sun blinded both girls, Wendy giggling as she skipped towards her friend's yellow convertible. "Ready for senior year?" her blonde friend asked, clicking her keys to open the car doors. The bluenette opened the door and sat down, sighing loudly before flipping her cascading hair away from her face, "I think I'll be able to answer that after school ends."

Wendy kept a smile on her face all the way through the car ride to school, listening intently to Lucy rant on about how stupid Natsu and Gray were. Apparently the two of them had gotten into a fight the day before yesterday about who had the better hair-do and more scars. Somehow Gajeel had gotten into the mess too, which then Jellal thought was funny enough to record and send to Erza. Biting her lip, the bluenette snickered - she had received that message via text, but was over it after a few minutes of laughter.

After parking in the senior's lot (which made both of them squeal like little girls), they walked towards their designated area where the group had taken over since freshman year. Fairy High seemed so large at first, yet was pretty small once students were used to it. There was only one entrance to school, two huge mahogany curved doors opened and closed three times: once in the morning, once during lunch break, and once at the end of school. On the inside it's walls were white, the tiled floors also white with marks of black and gray from different sneakers and shoes that walked on it, through the halls hung red, black, and gold banners showing off school pride.

There were two buildings: the main building and another building that held the gym and various classrooms on the second and third floor. Windows were placed in almost every classroom, with an exception of some; and the whole school was gated for no student to leave the grounds without permission from the principal. Wendy's friends all hung around in the morning and at lunch in the front of the school, right by the doors to enter. To the left side of the entrance, there was a lunch table that was usually never spotted unless someone would be sitting on it. Covered by the ledge that usually helped students be guided towards the entrance doors, Wendy's friends had fallen in love with the constant shade and extra seats, since some could sit on the ledge of stairs.

It was already 7:52 AM, eight minutes left before the first bell rung and then an extra five minute until senior year officially began. "Lucy! Wendy! You guys are late!" a guy with a full head of pink hair brought one of his legs out of the ledge, now looking as if he was riding it like a horse. Wendy glanced to the side, finding her friend blushing, "Natsu we aren't exactly late… there's still time before school starts!"

Like always, Natsu tended to ignore Lucy's comment and by the time the two girls reached their friends, he had thrown an arm around her and they began chatting about random things. The bluenette smiled and waved to her friends who all greeted her with wide smiles; she had just seen them days ago, but it didn't mean she hadn't missed hanging out with them for eight hours of the day. everyday. Wendy decided that she too would sit on the ledge, next to Juvia and Erza who were currently bickering about class schedules.

"Juvia you can't expect every class with Gray…"  
"Okay, but Juvia can expect about five…"  
"You might not even sit next to him! Most classes are in alphabetical order!"  
"Don't rain on Juvia's parade, Erza! We all know you want to sit next to J-"  
The swim team captain lost her air, as the senior class president's fist made contact with her stomach. Wendy only snickered before smacking her lips together and looking away as Juvia sent her the death stare.

Luckily they all had been placed in homeroom together; their schedules would be given to them at the beginning of homeroom. As the bluenette stared into space, her small legs swaying back and forth as they dangled on top of the table, she felt someone tap her shoulder. Pursing her lips and looking back and expecting a random friend, she felt her jaw slack as the guy in front of her looked at her with a smile.

"Could you tell me where the main office is?"

She stare at him, taking in the beauty. His hair was short and jet black, only a bit longer on the top with the side slightly more cropped. Emerald green eyes stared right into hers, and her reflection (which was a tiny girl with a dumbfounded face) could be perfectly seen. The most intriguing part about him though, was the visible scar on the upper left side of his face, right next to his eye. She'd never seen this student in school, and she'd been here since freshmen year and knew mostly everyone's name.

Apparently Wendy had been gawking for an awkward amount of time, flinching when Erza butted in and directed him to where he needed to go. "Thanks," he chuckled, meeting eyes with Erza before looking again at Wendy and turning away. Her red-headed friend looked towards her with an arched brow, "You were kind of drooling." "Was not!" The bluenette quickly touched her mouth to make sure, her cheeks becoming red with embarrassment. Both Erza and Juvia, the ones who were (thankfully) the only to see Wendy's odd moment laughed.

"If Juvia isn't mistaken, Wendy seems to be having a crush… and just on the first day!" She giggled softly, her hand coming to her mouth to try to not laugh loudly. Wendy only rolled her eyes before letting a small smile escape, "Well it's not like I can't…" She suddenly felt weight on her shoulders, and looked to her right to see Romeo sitting on the ledge with her, "What's up, Wendy?" Her smile became bigger as she began to go into detail of how her weekend had been, questioning where Romeo was the last few days since they hadn't spoken. She could see a few of her girlfriends staring, and she tried to ignore. Romeo and her were friends. Just. Friends. The bell rang and everyone began to get up from their seated positions, except for Gajeel who was smiling as Levy tried (without much success) to pull him out of the table.

"It sucks we don't have homeroom together. But I'm right next door so we still probably have a chance to have some classes together." His blue eyes were brighter than usual, making Wendy believe that he was seriously enjoying the first day of school than many others. "I'm sure we'll have some classes together," she smiled, jumping off the ledge and grabbing her bag from the table. She walked towards Lucy, catching her already nagging at him. "Natsu, you better at least try to get good grades!" "Luce, I'm the smartest kid in class!" Her girlfriend scoffed, "Yea, in a third grade class!" Wendy rolled her eyes once more and looked towards Romeo, who was already laughing at them. Lucy and Natsu were practically a married couple, although they hadn't really gotten farther than accidentally kissing once last year. The bluenette knew about Lucy's feelings - she liked him a lot, but for some reason Natsu was just too dense to really take it further. They would now hold hands randomly, but that was about it.

The group walked through the halls smiling widely as freshmen moved away from them and some other upperclassmen high-fived them. "I could get used to this!" Gray said, winking at a passing cheerleader and then grunting as a annoyed Juvia elbowed him in the stomach. Finally arriving at their homeroom, the gang began to walk in, Wendy following them before feeling herself get pulled back. Turning around, she saw Romeo's hand in hers, "Uh-"  
"I'll see you after class then?" His smile was big and hopeful, making Wendy looked at him in confusion before laughing, "Yea."

She let go and ventured into the room, closing the door behind her. "Hey, Wendy! Over here!" Looking towards the place she heard Lucy's voice, she walked towards it, her head shaking slowly from side to side, "Do we always have to sit in the same order?" Every school year, the gang would sit in a specific order, even if they didn't have some people in the class. In the front Wendy would always sit, Lucy right behind her with Natsu sitting next to her. Behind Natsu was Gray, with Juvia sitting behind Lucy and staring intently at her lover. At the rear was always Gajeel and Levy, sitting side by side. Next to Wendy was Erza, always sitting in the middle-front of the class, with Jellal in the seat behind her, although most of the times he'd just turn in his chair to talk to the guys.

Everyone looked at each other, before Gajeel intervened, "Fucking sit down, shrimp." Wendy sent a raspberry his way before sitting down, the gang laughing as Lucy tapped her shoulder, making her turn around. "So I heard you totally drooled over some guy?" Wendy immediately looked towards Erza and then around Lucy to see Juvia, "Guys!" Both looked away, small smiles on their face. "Wendy, it's fine! But you have to let Romeo know he's not the one."  
"The one? What? We're just friends!" Everyone looked at Wendy, their faces all seemingly saying the same thing: 'Really?'

"Wendy, Romeo is like… in love with you! Can't you see it?!" Natsu said, his arms going in the air exaggeratedly. "Oh, Sorry Natsu," Lucy intervened, "I never knew you'd be a love doctor. What? Do you not take your own advice?!" Wendy made a 'o' shape with her lips before turning back in her seat. She could already feel Lucy's anger in waves. Gajeel and Gray only laughed, "You're fucked, dude."

"What? What did I say?!"

Just before Lucy could began to scream, the door opened and in came walking a young man with a leather satchel and a laptop in hand. He was wearing a buttoned down light blue shirt with jeans and tan loafers, a metallic watch hanging loosely on his left wrist. His hair was shortly cropped on the side and longer in the front, his emerald green eyes looking around the room with a big smile. The thing that was most noticeable was the scar on the upper left side of his face, barely visible by his long hair in the front. Settling down his laptop, he breathed in and let out a huge sigh, letting his eyes fall on Wendy's, "Welcome to your last year, kids."

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**Good? Bad? Let me know. I have MANY ideas for this fic, but I definitely need some feedback!**

**-Nina**


	2. A Teacher's Assistant

**It's amazing how much love this story has gotten…!  
My creative juices are flowing.**

**Enjoy~**

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**…**

**Mest**

**…**

He kept questioning himself why on Earth he took on this job; being a high school teacher wasn't exactly on the top of his list of 'Things To Do Before I Die'. Yet the offer came up and the jewels he was getting paid added up to give him more of a leisurely life than he already had. Working for the government was never an easy job but lately things had quieted down to the point where many workers just laid around eating shit and looking at PlayBoy's.

Of course if there's one thing that Mest was sure of, it was definitely that he needed to be active. Having worked in the government for about three years had it's perks: if you needed a job outside of the government, just showing your government badge was enough to get you in. Mest's best buddy, Lahar, had told him about the job opening in Fairy High knowing that he had a soft spot for education. Remembering his teachers back in the day made him cringe; kids needed a better role model that had experienced all types of things and is there when needed.

Mest knew who Makarov was, in fact many people knew of the midget with a high temper and ego in all of Magnolia and even some parts outside of the town. The short man had random jewels to spare and created a private elementary, middle, high school, and university where many students could learn and become something. Students were able to have dorms and were promised jobs right after graduating with a degree from the university. While checking up on Makarov, Mest was surprised to see that his promises were all kept.

After thoroughly doing research on the principal and then accepting the offer, the brand new teacher had little time to actually check up on the school before the first day. Luckily he had found some students lounging around the main entrance and and asked one of the girls sitting on the ledge for directions. He found himself smiling as he saw the petite blue-haired girl just staring at him, her friend (which he'd later would find out to be the Senior Class President) ended up having to direct him to the main office. At the main office, he found himself looking at a blonde guy maybe a year younger than him pouting at the front desk. He was listening to music and just stared at Mest while he tried to ask for his schedule of classes. The guy just rolled his eyes and gave him a huge manila envelope, "You came at the worst time. Your homeroom class kids will be also the kids you teach for math, science, and English. Good luck."

He grumbled that he was already aware of that and looked around the small main office looking for someone else who could've been a little more helpful. Luckily, he found a woman with green hair walking out of one of the offices and quickly asked for help. The woman, Bisca, was kind enough to direct him towards his homeroom class (which he luckily would be staying in all day), and apologized briefly for Laxus' behavior. Bisca apparently talked a lot more than Mest thought she would, going into a deep explanation about how the principal gives opportunities for current university students to work in the school system.

By the time he managed to rip away from the overly talkative assistant principal, the bell had rung and he was now pacing to his class. Reaching the door, he let out a nervous breath and placed on the poker face he had learned to make in his old jobs. Opening the door, he walked coolly into the room, a small smile on his face as the class began to settle down. Placing his laptop on the table her turned around and let his eyes sweep across the room, taking in all the new faces he'd be seeing every day for the rest of the school year. He breathed in and let out a huge sigh, his eyes falling on the girl he recognized from this morning, "Welcome to your last year, kids."

The girl had the same wide-eyed expression from this morning, making Mest chuckle as he then brought his attention back up to the class. "My name is Mest Doranbolt Gryder, but you guys can call me Mr. G," he smiled wider and nodded as the class greeted him, "Lucky for you, things have changed this year. You'll now have your homeroom teacher as your teacher for Math, Science, and English!" The class began to complain, the kids sitting around the bluenette student making louder noises of complaint than rest. "That hurts," he pouted, "I actually see myself as a rather cool and collected teacher."

A hand raised, and a pink-headed guy spoke without even being called, "Does that mean no homework?" Mest only raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, "Funny." He let the word linger before turning and giving the back to his class as he took off his satchel and placed it on his chair, walking back around and leaning on his wooden desk. The thought then made him smile: he has his own class and a wooden desk… cool couldn't even begin to define his job. "So now that you all know me, I only find it fair to know about you kids. There's about… let's see," he glanced down at his watch and looked back up, "fifteen minutes left of homeroom. We can go around the room, all of you telling me your name and a fun fact about you. If we pass time it's fine, I don't mind you guys having Nutrition here. You're kind of stuck with me for math."

This time his class didn't complain, in fact he saw smiles across the room and heard whispers around about how 'odd' and 'cool' this teacher was. _Bingo! _he thought, _Exactly as planned. _"Alright, so let's start with the right side of the room and then go around until we reach the end. Remember: Your name and an interesting fact. Oh, by the way, if I find it ridiculously interesting, I'll be asking questions. Enjoy the spotlight." Taking their turns, the students stood and spoke their name and an interesting fact. Already he had picked on two: a girl who volunteered at a local zoo and a guy who apparently could hold his breath underwater for about two minutes. After that he hadn't heard many interesting facts but when the person seated in front of him stood, he couldn't help but to let his full attention rest on her. It was the petite girl from the morning, who stood now with a nervous smile. "My name is Wendy Marvell, and… I… I don't really have anything interesting to say?" the class giggled and the blonde girl (Mest assumed was her friend) behind her nudged her lightly.

Arching an eyebrow, the new high school teacher sighed, "You can't possibly have nothing interesting to say. I mean, maybe you can wrestle an alligator? Or perhaps have an extra toe?" the class laughed louder, and the girl in front of him blushed deeply. He himself couldn't stop from having a laugh escape, "C'mon, there's got to be something!" "I'm an orphan." The class did the usual applause and then stood the blonde girl behind Wendy. No one seemed to care much about the statement the bluenette had just said, but Mest couldn't help but to have his own eyes widen before pulling out a poker face and nodding as the rest of the students went on. Through his career in the government he had met many orphans - none of which ever made it to school and wore the same clothing daily. But as he watched through his peripheral vision the girl in front of him, it just didn't make sense.

She was beautiful: well dressed, clean, and looked very smart. How had an orphan come to this place? This prestigious school that was a load-sum to pay unless you had rich parents. _Maybe a scholarship?_ The thought had apparently made his mind zone out, though his face said otherwise. "-Piercings…" "What?" He came back to reality and made eye contact with one of his students who could've passed for a twenty-three year old. "I said," he answered gruffly, "my hobby is to do piercings on people, see?" He pointed to his face and then pointed to the petite girl in front of him, who stuck out her tongue to show her piercing.

Mest raised an eyebrow, his interest peeking and seemingly forgetting about the girl he was thinking about, "You pierce just humans?" The student, Gajeel he faintly remembered, scratched his head and shrugged, "I tried it on my cat…" "He had the biggest scratch marks on his face for WEEKS!" The pink haired guy two seats in front of him, Natsu, laughed out loud, the class following. Gajeel barked back an insult to him and both began yelling at each other while the one in the middle, _Gray, was it?_, stood up and grabbed their faces in his hands. The new teacher sighed , bringing two fingers up to his mouth and blew out a whistle.

Everyone stopped laughing and placing bets on who would punch who first; all heads snapped into attention at Mest. "I won't have too many rules in this class, in fact I'll barely have more than five. But please, don't make me send you to the principal's office." He let his eyes rest on the two men, glaring at them and watching them both sit quietly, grumbling about who should be getting in trouble. After that the class went by smoothly, each student rising and giving him their name and an interesting fact. On few occasions, Mest would speak up and question the student's hobby and then move along to call onto the next student to begin.

As the final student finished speaking, the bell rang signaling Nutrition. All the kids began to shuffle around and move towards the door, Mest quickly remembering about attendance. "Wait! Wait just a second! Is there anybody absent today?" The students looked around and shrugged, a random one screaming out they were all present and opening the door to get out. Soon enough only a few students were left, including the girl that he was sitting in front of for pretty much the whole class. He looked down at her and watched her meet his eyes, "You're not off to Nutrition?"

Wendy, he remembered her name, fidgeted in her seat, "I'm your student aid. I'm supposed to take the attendance envelope to the office…" she looked down, her long hair covering her face. Mest bit his lip, "Oh, yes! Right… about that…" he pushed himself away from the desk and walked around it, grabbing the envelope he had obtained from Laxus and taking out an attendance sheet. "Why are we still using paper when we can do things electronically?" he said aloud, "This is caveman status!" He heard a giggle and looked up, showing a big smile, "Ah, so you like jokes." "I-... I'm just a little shy, but yes I like to laugh."

He chuckled lightly and brought out a pen from his pocket, quickly checking off all the names on the list. When he finished, he walked back around to the now standing senior. "You can't be shy, you know," Mest smiled, giving her the paper, "It's your senior year. Shyness is for freshmen only." He watched her as she grabbed the paper from him, nodding and trying to hide the obvious blush. The new teacher laughed a little louder his eyebrows furrowing at the way she was acting, "See you in fifteen, Wendy."

Hearing the door close behind him, he let out a big sigh and shook his body, "Not that bad, for the first class." He turned and walked back to his desk, falling on the chair and placing his feet on the desk. A low _bing!_ noise came from his pocket, making him dig into it and bring out his phone. The screen showed he had received a text message:

**(1) New Text Message**  
**From**: Lahar  
_How's the first day of school treating you?_

**Reply**  
_Better than I expected. I have a good set of kids…  
There's no computers and everything is very old fashioned,  
I have a student aid_…_ isn't that weird? _

Clicking send, he smirked to himself. It wasn't exactly weird. She was cute in a very innocent way, which made Mest happy. Many of the students he saw roaming the halls and even outside of school where obnoxious and highly seductive even though they were underage. He thought back to the last time he was ever with someone and cringed, _it's been about a year and a half already… and we didn't even actually date. _His phone buzzed again.

**(1) New Text Message**  
**From**: Lahar  
_Hey, if it's a girl… it's not that bad? ;)_

**Reply  
**_Lahar, are you fucking serious? She's probably 17. I'm freaking  
24\. Although now I know to watch out for you being a pedophile._

It would be like Lahar to crack jokes. He acted all high and mighty at work and in government meetings, but on the side? Girl crazy and delirious. Every time they would go out, Lahar would somehow get a girls number and then have 'alone' time with her later. And Mest? Third wheel, usually. Lahar, once under the influence of drinks, would try to get Mest with some girl - usually starting off with his scar and saying he was in a tragic accident, bear fight, or his favorite, slipped and fell on a rock while climbing a mountain. All were lies and though the girls would then go towards Mest, the next day he would either leave them hanging or just pretend they didn't exist. There wasn't anything interesting about anyone he met. Nothing at all.

**(1) New Text Message  
From**: Lahar  
_I'm just messing with you. I'll go over tonight.  
Beer and SciFi movies?_

**Reply  
**_Sure. G2G, Nutrition is about to end. _

With a few minutes left before the kids starting coming in, he grabbed the satchel from behind him and brought it to his lap, opening it and taking out a granola bar. As he ate his snack, he thought about the many ways to start off his math class. Looking around at the bare walls, a mental note to decorate came to his mind. He could ask Wendy to come in earlier one day to help him… that's what a student aid would do? Or perhaps in Nutrition?

**(1) New Text Message**  
**From**: Lahar  
_Tell the student aid I say hi._

**Reply**  
_Idiot. _

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**I hope you guys enjoy it. Every chapter the POV changes from Wendy to Mest. **

**I'm trying to make this a very normal fic. They aren't going to be making out or jumping each other's bones anytime soon. There's a lot of controversy involving this 'couple' because of age. I've read many fics where Mest pretty much acts like a straight up pedophile and others where Wendy is jumping on him like a crazy woman. **

**Won't happen here. **

**Trust me.**

**-Nina**


	3. A First Request

**FYI, there are A LOT of similarities from my other fic, I Love College.**  
**For those of you who read that fic, you'll see why ;)**

**Enjoy~**

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**…**

**Wendy**

**…**

The rest of the school day was pure agony. Not only had Wendy managed to acquire the most idiotic school crush ever, but she was completely embarrassed for the rest of the day - her face never went back to being it's pale self, she was temporarily red for the whole school day. Of course, this wouldn't have happened if the school had stayed with the schedule it had for three years: every subject had a new teacher. The fact that this year the students only had one teacher for the major subjects (including homeroom) wouldn't have been such a bad case, except if your teacher was the most handsome man you've met in your life.

While the boys in her group only managed to notice her reddened face, all the girls were well aware of Wendy's awkward attitude. By lunch period, all the girls huddled and brought out their thoughts on their teacher, "Mr. M."

"He seems like a well mannered guy?" questioned Erza as she picked through her spaghetti bowl.  
"Mr. D also seems to have a rough past… Juvia saw the scar," the swim team captain spoke soft, eyeing Gray to make sure he didn't hear her comments, "It's really big."  
"The scar gives him an edge though…" thought Lucy, nibbling on her sandwich.  
Levy was currently braiding a strand of Gajeel's hair but turning her neck to talk to the girls. "He seems like a smart guy to me. He can't be a day over twenty-five. Most of our teachers are in their thirties."

All the girls stared at Wendy last, some of them with a hint of a smile on their face. "What does Wendy think?" asked Juvia. The bluenette looked down at her own sandwich and took a huge bite, "I -unno?" Some of the girls giggled, and Lucy stared at her for an awkward amount of time. Raising an eyebrow and swallowing the food, Wendy shrugged, "I'm serious. I just… I don't know what to think of him."

Before her blonde friend could answer the bell rang, signaling the next class was to begin in about five minutes. "I guess you have the rest of the day to figure out what you think of him," she got up and Wendy followed, grabbing her Jansport from the floor and moving to put it on only to find the weight of her bag disappearing. With a confused face she turned only to find a smiling Romeo looking back at her. "I'll take this off your hands. We're next door neighbors, remember?"

A small laughter escaped her lips as she placed a manicured hand on her hip, "Romeo I'm sure I can take that on my own." The teenager only shrugged, walking away from her with her bag in tow. "Hey! Romeo, I'm serious, come back!"

**.-.-.-.-.-.**

The rest of the day came out to be more unbearable than Wendy could imagine. Every time Mr. M looked her way, she found herself turning her head and looking down onto her desk. Why? _He's beautiful_. She smacked her forehead and immediately the lecture stopped. "So I really am that boring? You have five minutes left of class, bear with me."

Her eyes snapped opened as her friends snickered next to her. Raising her head, she found herself looking straight at her teacher who had already jumped back into the lecture. _Five minutes?_ she thought, _more like over 179 days left. _She felt a nudge from behind and looked over her shoulder, a smirking blonde looked at her - no, she was giving her _that _look… the look that meant she was going to be interrogating Wendy for the next few hours about a certain guy. _It couldn't get any worse…_

Apparently, it could.

After the dreaded five minutes passed the bell rang and everyone began shuffling around, grabbing their bags and waiting annoyingly to be dismissed. Their teacher hadn't noticed that part and walked to his desk, plopping on his chair comfortably and raising an eyebrow at his students, "Isn't that the last bell?"

"You're supposed to send us out," spoke Gray, already looking at Natsu and making up a challenge to see who could get to their car the fastest. Wendy turned in her seat and saw Lucy's annoyed face - she obviously was embarrassed to even have a crush on Natsu seeing the fact that he and his best friend acted like they were five. "Oh… well then, uh, yea? Go. I'll see you kids tomorrow, eight o' five!"

Wendy felt a gust of wind as Fullbuster and Dragneel raced towards the door and outside, Juvia chanting for Gray to win while Lucy loudly protested about their existence. Levy turned got out of her seat and swung her own Jansport bag onto her back, leaning on her desk she let a big smile come to her face, "You guys realize we have every class together, except for some electives? This years going to be amazing!"

Levy was right - they had all their main classes together, except for two. Wendy was lucky enough to have Levy and Lucy for creative writing, but had Health &amp; CPR as her second elective with Jellal. She remembered briefly how Romeo had complained about them not even having one class together, making her smile. _Poor Romeo, _she thought, _guess we can only see each other after school and on weekends. _"Are we ready to go? I'm thinking we could stop by Enchanted and have some food." The scarlet-haired school president spoke, although her eyes were currently clouded with what everyone knew to be strawberry cake. Jellal laughed out loud, bringing Erza back to Earth, "Alright, let's go now then, before the college kids get out and have us wait until they're done eating." The remaining group of friends nodded and began to move towards the door. Of course, Wendy wouldn't reach the door. Fate, in her mind, was not on her side today.

She heard her name and stopped in her tracks, a few feet away from the door. "Could you stay for a few extra minutes? I need to ask you some questions." She turned her head a little and found Mr. M staring right at her. _Are you kidding me?_ Lucy stopped too, with a confused but contempt face, "We'll wait for you in the parking lot." _Great_, Wendy thought, _everyone has left me…_

The bluenette walked back to her seat and sat uncomfortably, watching everyone else leave the room. Finally, as the door shut from the last student leaving, Mr. M let out a loud sigh. Immediately Wendy stood up, "I'm sorry about smacking my forehead during class," she looked up towards the board where he had written some equations from their first period, "It was rude and unnecessary and I really don't know why I did it but it won't happen again!" She breathed heavily, her heart pounding on her chest, and met her teachers eyes.

Mr. M. turned around and faced the board and then back at her, "Are you done apologizing to the board?" Wendy eyebrows furrowed, a small '_huh?_' escaping her lips. The teacher only laughed to himself and leaned onto his desk, his elbows placed on either side of his laptop. "To be honest, I had totally forgotten about that. I just found it funny that you were staring at the board apologizing, instead of at me." She felt her face get red and she looked down, whispering a 'sorry'.

"Woah, no need to get all sad. It's cool!" She looked back up at him and let out a small laugh as she saw him stand up from his desk and show a sign of surrender, "It's easy to get overwhelmed in senior year, specially if you have to look at this face for about 75% of your school day." Wendy laughed a little louder and nodded her head, "Yea… you're right. Thanks." Her cheeks began to cool down and her heart wasn't beating as fast anymore; he was nice, and not at all as intimidating as she thought. Still, he was the most handsome man she ever met but she was finding it easy to talk to him.

He stood behind his desk with his arms crossed, a smile on his face from what Wendy supposed was towards accomplishing not making her faint. "So, was that it?" She crossed her right foot behind her and tapped her toe to the ground, a small habit she had from her days in the orphanage. Mr. M's eyes opened and for a second Wendy could imagine a small light bulb appearing in front of his head, "Ah yes! Well, you are my teacher assistant for the year, correct?" The bluenette nodded, she was chosen by the principal to be the teacher assistant in all her classes since she had received 'Principal Honor Roll' every semester for her entire four years of high school.

"Perfect! So if you look around," he motioned to the bare walls of the classroom, "This is as dull as it gets. I'm thinking about going shopping and grabbing some posters and pasting them around the walls. Also maybe getting some words that I could stick to the walls as well, maybe even have a bulletin board?" Wendy turned in her spot and began imagining what the class would be like with all those colorful ideas Mr. M had in mind. "I think that's a great idea," she turned towards her teacher, "The bulletin board can be used to mark special dates throughout the year… and maybe you can even have a student of the month posted on their too? A way to keep us students on our feet?"

Mr. M began clapping and laughing, "Yes! That's a great idea!" "When are you planning to actually do this?" she questioned. "I'll probably shop around this week and have everything for next week. Are you free to come on a weekend? Maybe earlier on Monday morning if we don't finish up Sunday?" Wendy looked at him: how his eyes were bright with ideas of how his classroom would look, how his hair seemed a bit rustled after clapping and being overjoyed with the idea of having help, how his smile seemed to warm her body. Blinking and sighing she tapped one last time on her toe, "Sure. Sunday it is."

Making a 'score!' position, Mr. M walked back towards his desk and opened a drawer. Out of curiosity, Wendy walked forward and leaned towards his desk. Pulling out a small stack of stickies, the teacher was currently writing a number on one of them and ripping it out of the stack. Looking up, he smiled, "Here's my number, this is strictly for school only. Please, don't put my number on the newspaper or something…" The bluenette laughed, "I promise. I'll send you a text so that you know it's me." He nodded, already on his laptop, "Great, have a good day. See you tomorrow."

Wendy began walking towards the door, her hand was about to grab the knob before she heard her name called out again. Turning, she saw Mr. M. still in his chair, typing up something, "Don't be so shy. You're a really bright girl." Smiling, the bluenette opened the door and walked away from class.

**.-.-.-.-.**

Thankfully Mr. M had only kept Wendy for an extra five minutes, giving the gang enough time to arrive at Enchanted and sit comfortably in a large table. Everyone had their designated favorite 'Enchanted' meal in front of them - including Erza with not one but two strawberry cakes. "So tell me again why would Mr. M keep you an extra five minutes?" Lucy asked while picking at her chocolate croissant.

With a heavy sigh, the bluenette explained what exactly Mr. M had in mind for the classroom and how she, his teacher assistant, would be helping out this weekend. "Are teachers really allowed to give out their numbers to students?" Questioned Juvia, who was currently dipping a tea bag into warmed water. Levy intervened before Wendy could speak, "Yup. Well, I mean, I have most of my prior teachers' numbers because I always study on the weekends in school. I've never had a problem and they've all told me the same thing that Mr. M told Wendy: don't give out my number."

A few people from the gang looked towards Erza, the scarlet-head already finished with her first cake. Looking up, she pursed her lips, "It's not something illegal and it's definitely not against school rules. He gave her his number strictly for the purpose of painting up the class. I approve!" Without hesitation, she dug into her second cake, earning herself a chuckle from Jellal as he slowly ate his own chocolate mousse.

"Who cares about Mr. M? School ended already, let's talk about this weekend! Let's go out!"  
"We _are_ out, Natsu."  
"I wanna go somewhere else!"  
"With what money? Last time I checked, none of us have jobs!"

"Just get married already," Gajeel groaned, making Wendy laugh out loud as she saw both Natsu and Lucy bicker for the hundredth time today. She looked around at her friends and back down at her own plate where a half eaten eclair lay. "I think we should go to the beach this Saturday," she heard a familiar voice say next to her. When she looked up, Romeo was smiling at her side and shrugged, "Since you're busy on Sunday, might as well just go for a morning of fun in the sun."

Gray brought his hand down towards the table, "Yes! Beach time! We gotta go at least once before the weather starts to get cold!" The rest of the gang began nodding their heads and agreeing to a beach day, some of the girls already figuring out what bathing suit they'd wear to the beach. Wendy looked to her side and grabbed Romeo's arm, "Thanks, that's really thoughtful of you." Her hand stayed there a little longer, although she certainly didn't feel much from it, and saw a tint of red come to her friends cheek.

"Anything for you, Wens."

* * *

**"Anything for you, Wens" - remember that line :)**

**-Nina**


	4. A Jog at the Beach

**I'm so in love with these two. **

**It seems crazy to some, but honestly, it's not wrong if he waits for her…**

**Ah, I spoiled! Ok ok, I'll write now.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

**…**

**Mest**

**…**

_Week 001_

_The first week in Fairy High has been great! I've learned all my students' names and have enjoyed teaching more than I'd actually like to say aloud. It really is rewarding to know that even the densest student _(which in my class, it's between three guys)_ can learn a thing or two if you make learning, well, fun. I also obtained an assistant who will help me out – thank the gods. _

The twenty-four year old closed his laptop, feeling extra pumped up for the weekend since his brain worked over eight hours a day for the past five days in memorizing, teaching, and grading. He knew he could have Wendy help him with grading paper but felt as though asking her for too much during the first week would make her detest his presence; she already had to see him all day and even now on Sunday.

The thought of Sunday's activities came into his head and he immediately grabbed a notebook that lay on his nightstand and grabbed the pen that was placed inside the spirals. Opening it up, he drew four rectangles which now looked like a 3-D room. He began scribbling things in each rectangle, adding more shapes inside them and even placing the color of the wall on top. He was in full brainstorming motion when a familiar _bing!_ knocked him out of focus. He immediately rolled his eyes, not being surprised if he found Lahar texting him on a Friday evening telling him they needed to 'grab booty'.

Yet as he picked up his phone, pulling the charging cable out, his heart skipped a beat as an unknown number came to view. He had deleted her number and just about any woman's number from his phone before beginning his new job and didn't really like having to reject a woman a second or third time. He looked at the message, trying to decipher what the hell bent text message could mean.

(1**) New Text Message**  
**From**: (***) ***-****  
Hi :)

Could this have been Marnie, from two weekends ago? Or maybe Lauren from Lahar's cousin's baby shower from last month? No, they wouldn't text him back – he made sure to be as dull and uninterested as possible. Perhaps it could be _her_. He felt sweat begin to build up behind his neck as he had flashbacks of the vile woman. He gritted his teeth as he saw a sharp glass and then quickly opened his eyes as the sound came in louder than it should have: _bing! _He slowly dropped his gaze to his phone that was face down, a blue light appearing every few seconds to remind him he had a message. Turning it over slowly, he let out a shaky breath.

(1**) New Text Message**  
**From**: (***) ***-****  
It's Wendy, from Fairy High… your teacher  
assistant. I completely forgot to text you my number.  
Can I bring my friends to help out? We'd finish faster! :D

Mest fell forward onto his bed, his nervous laugh being muffled by his bed sheets. He had completely forgotten about giving his number to Wendy, not giving it much thought the moment he had written it on a sticky note and handed it to her. His breathing became normal again, the small throbbing he felt on his scar ceasing too. "I should know better," he cooed as he raised himself up and off the bed, holding his phone up to talk to it – which was totally not weird of him at all. "_She_ can't get to me anymore."

He walked towards his bathroom, opening the faucet and splashing satisfyingly cold water onto his face. After the many court dates and one strong restraining order, there was no reason for that woman to pop up into his head. It did happen on occasion, and he admitted that was the reason he would rather stay alone and very, very far away from women. He did the deed every man had to do when they're lonely and also would take a lady out and calm his… testosterone… but there was never a mutual feeling. The lady would fall for him and he would kindly reject. That's that.

Looking back at his phone, he smirked and went ahead to save her contact information. He already knew Wendy's 'friends' and found it rather entertaining the thought of having them all help out. "I'll give them extra credit," he spoke to himself, "Gods know Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray need it."

**Reply**  
Ah, that's fine! Lunch is on me.  
See you Sunday.

He read it over about three times before sending it, hoping it sounded very teacher-y. It was a bit hard at times to not get involved in students talking about sports or perhaps going out for a soda at Enchantments. He was only twenty-four and although he had to grow up early due to his government job, it didn't necessarily mean he acted like an old geezer 24/7. Plus, seven years apart from his students seemed like a small gap in retrospect. _Bing! _His phone buzzed again, and he grabbed it quickly to check his message.

**(1) New Text Message  
From: **Wendy Marvell (Assist.)  
Thank you! I went ahead and bought  
some posters I thought were nice. They were  
from the thrift store, so it's cheap but definitely worth  
it. :3 See you Sunday!

Literally two minutes had passed since he had replied. It was pretty interesting to know how alert kids were to their cell phones. It was also pretty interesting how he had become so happy to get a message back. He pushed that thought and feeling down, taking in how different Wendy acted through text message than in person. In the five days that they were together, she still spoke to him half looking at the board and half focusing on his tie, shirt pocket, button, or shirt collar. And the smiley faces? She spent most of her time either smiling or laughing nervously. He sort of wished she'd be her 'text message' self in person.

Thinking of what to say, he stared at his phone's screen for a few minutes before hearing a variety of knocks on his door. He instantaneously look up towards the ceiling of his two bedroom apartment and sighed loudly, "Not tonight, Lahar!" Another series of knocks came along and was accompanied by the voice of his best (sadly) friend, "Oh yes, Lahar! We are going out! It's Friday!" Mest let a hand pass through his hair before hearing the knocks again and Lahar warning not to ignore him. Since he actually liked his new apartment and wanted to not have the neighbors hate him, he stalked towards the door, opening it and looking at Lahar with an annoyed expression.

"Thank you very much, pal. Now then, where to? Ale House? Shorty's? Little Hoolies?"  
"Can I say no?"  
"Hmm, no."

Before letting out another sigh, Lahar lifted up his hands: one held a six-pack of beers and the other held a small plastic bag. "We're pre-gaming, of course." He grinned, his glasses sliding off a little as Mest shook his head and smirked. "You know how to always reel me in," he grabbed the plastic bag, "Booze and drugs won't work forever you know." His friend moved towards the kitchen, the sound of two beer caps falling onto the counter bounced around his apartment as he sat on his sofa and turned on the TV. Feeling the seat next to him sink, he looked up to see him and Lahar's favorite cheap beer. "Well," Lahar spoke, taking a swig, "It's not like I can bring any chick around your apartment."

"That's right," he exclaimed, taking a gulp from his beer bottle, "No girls allowed." He placed emphasis on the 'd' as he finished rolling up the substance in the plastic bag on brown thin paper, licking the end to secure it. "I'm guessing that whole one is for you?" Lahar mused, grabbing the plastic bag and another thin film of brown paper and preparing his own. "Yea," Mest replied, "If you want me to go out and be really happy, the only way I can do it is like this."

**.-.-.-.**

He woke up to the sound of a phone alarm, blaring loudly. Opening one eye, he tried to silence it by sticking his arm out from underneath the covers over towards his nightstand. "Shit." His arm stopped. Someone else was in his room, on his bed, and currently fumbling under the covers looking for something. The alarm stopped, and a sigh followed it. Mest turned his head slowly to the left; a skinny girl with matted blonde hair was sitting up next to him, currently putting on her pants. She looked at him and smiled, reaching over and kissing him on the forehead.

"You were super sweet, Josh. I'll call you tonight… for round two!" She winked at him and got out of the bed, grabbing her shirt from the beanbag chair and throwing it over her head. He heard the door unlock and then close, his apartment once again becoming silent. _Josh?_ he thought, before lifting himself up and massaging his temples with his hands. He cussed, getting up from his bed only to notice that he was naked. He sighed, mentally giving himself a half-assed high-five for getting a girl but also failing to care for more than five minutes.

His head felt like it weighed a ton, his mouth tasting as if he had swallowed cotton balls. As he walked towards the bathroom, he recalled the events of last night: booze and drugs, bars and booze, bars and babes, babes and drugs, and then sex. It was like this about four years before – except one of those babes tagged along for a good two years before turning crazy. He brushed his teeth as he tried, to no avail, to remember the girl's name. After that, he tried to recall if had given her his number; he had provided a fake name, so he figured a fake number was attached to it. As he placed on basketball short and a tank top, he searched around his room for any female products and to his luck, there was nothing that didn't scream 'PROPERTY OF MALE'.

Knowing that the rest of the day would be filled with spacing out and lying around the couch doing nothing, he opted to clear his mind by exercising on the beach. Since it was the first weekend of high school, he didn't expect to see any familiar faces although perhaps college students may still be out and about. He didn't care about that though – most of his government buddies where still in college, and to be honest he was freshly twenty-four and, again, not some old teacher who wears pocket protectors. A picture of his co-worker, Remus, popped into his head showing him his 'pocket paint protector' or as he calls it, 'The Triple P'.

Laughing to himself, he finished tying his shoes and grabbed for his hat, headphones, and keys. As he walked out of the apartment, he breathed in the salty air while placing his FTU hat on to cover him from the sun. Best thing about working in the government? You got the best places for the cheapest price. Living on the boardwalk with the beach literally walking distance was the best possible choice. Lahar lived in the same building, a few floors higher to have a balcony. He thought of his friend momentarily, before distinctly remembering he left with two girls.

"Probably doing the Triple P," he murmured and then smiled at his own joke. Walking towards the sand, he placed his headphones on and quickly placed shuffle on his playlist. Looking at the screen, he remembered never texting Wendy back but shrugged. _I spoke to her enough,_ he thought, _don't want to look creepy or anything. _As he jogged on the sand, he began thinking of his job. It was a good thing to have his students and their work constantly on his mind – as a government official, he spent most of his down time thinking of the past. Here, at his new job in Fairy High, he could only think about the future: what tomorrows lesson should be, when the next test should happen, where a class fieldtrip could be, and how to make his students have the best last year of high school.

The sun started to become unbearable, and he could already feel his tank top sticking to him. He stopped momentarily and took off his tank, hoping that whatever kind of suntan he had gotten in the last ten minutes would now even out. The beach was very much empty, with only few bodies lying on the sand or splashing in the water. As his heels dug into the sand, he felt the familiar burn in his calves that meant he was really getting to his peak state of exercise. If there was one thing that made him feel better after a night out and an awkward morning, it was running. The fact that he now owned a place right off the beach was even better, since the last two weeks had been filled with weekday morning runs on the boardwalk and weekend morning jogs on the beach.

As he continued to jog, he let his mind wander as to what all his students would be doing on a Saturday like this. He hoped not homework – he was pretty lenient this week and only gave them a good thirty-minutes of hardcore studying per class. Back in the day, Saturdays were filled with essays on top of essays. In fact, he imagined giving Natsu a bunch of essays; he'd probably complain all class. He could actually hear Natsu calling out his name now.

Wait.

Mest stopped running and took off his headphones, only to see a pink-headed boy come running towards him. "Mr. M! You're jacked up!" He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment but then smiled, "Mr. Dragneel, I see you came to the beach today. Finished with the studying so soon?" His students laughed nervously, "Yea, sure, lots of studying. LOADS, actually." Someone laughed loudly behind him, "Natsu you haven't studied anything since you were born!" His mouth dropped as he looked back and marched towards his group of friends, yelling at Gray to shut up.

The high school teacher raised his hat to get a better view, his eyes widening as he saw a large group of his classmates. Natsu wrestled Gray into the sand, getting up momentarily to motion him over to where they were. "Hey Mr. M, come over here!" He would've refused, but then he saw familiar blue hair sticking from behind the opened cooler. "Only because I see my TA hiding behind a cooler!" He grinned and jogged lightly to where his students were. "I was NOT hiding behi-" he saw his assistant's mouth drop as she realized who she was talking to. "M-Mr. M?"

"That's me. Hey, could you pass me a water bottle? I am buying you all lunch tomorrow. Take it as a tax." The group laughed, except for Wendy who only handed him the water bottle and quickly plopped down onto her towel. _Weird one_, he thought. "Mr. M, what are you doing here? Don't you have like… paper to grade?" Lucy asked as she popped a watermelon into her mouth. "Ah, yes, the life of a teacher must only mean grading papers, not exercising or having a personal life." She blushed slightly and laughed before Gajeel intervened. "Forget what Bunny Girl said. You sure as hell don't need to work out anymore." "Bunny Girl?" he replied, completely ignoring his comment.

"It's this stupid name he gave her in Freshmen year after a talent competition," Levy said, her nose dug deep into what seemed like a 400-page dictionary. "Reading at the beach, McGarden?" Mest asked, shaking his head and laughing, "I wish I was like you when I was younger." Everyone laughed, but the twenty-four year old focused momentarily on Wendy, who was biting her lip and looking out to the water. "Well kids," he clapped, "I'll see you all tomorrow at ten… don't be late." He brought two fingers to his forehead and signaled a goodbye, again letting his eyes drop to Wendy. A boy now was sitting next to her and her tense attitude had somewhat changed.

He heard them say bye as he jogged away, his mind still stuck on Wendy. _She's got a boyfriend,_ he thought, _that's nice. Guess she isn't that shy._ Running another mile, he turned and jogged back towards his apartment on the boardwalk, not wanting to pass through his kids again. Sure, it was pretty fun seeing them all, but in reality, he rather let his private life remain private. Reaching his building, he began to stretch out before hearing someone giggle. He looked back and saw Wendy at the water fountain at the edge of the boardwalk with Juvia and Lucy.

Suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, he moved towards the shaded area of his building, where his students couldn't see him. "Why the heck are they drinking water in front of my building, of all places?" he groaned, lifting up his right leg and stretching. "I think he has a thing for Wendy!" Mest stopped stretching, and focused on the three girls. "I agree with Juvia," Lucy said, "He was literally staring at you!" The teacher smiled softly, the guy sitting next to Wendy appearing in his head. He seemed like a well-rounded kid. Mest had seen him walk with Wendy to class everyday and even hold her book bag on occasion. _The teacher approves_, he thought to himself before slipping into his building, unnoticed.

* * *

**He's approving for now, really. **

**That's until The Field Trip. **

**Oh, wait, I've spoiled again... dangit.**

**-Ninaaaa**


	5. A Unrequited Love x2

**Thinking of a hot twenty-four year old teacher running on the beach was like, amazing.**

**Wendy thinks so. So do I. Now let's paint the classroom :3**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

**…**

**Wendy**

**…**

"I think he has a thing for Wendy!" Juvia exclaimed as she rinsed off in the shower near the boardwalk. Wendy had been giggling nervously for the last ten minutes. The whole week was terribly slow and hard to pass due to her having to assist what she thought was the most handsome man on Earthland. When Juvia made her rather bold statement and Lucy agreed, Wendy wanted to jump for joy and fall into a bottomless pit at the same time. "That's hardly believable," she said, looking down at the water fountain that was filled with sand carried from the wind. She flicked a ball of sand and watched it disperse into a small puddle of water in the fountain, "I'm just really shy around new people, and you guys know that."

Lucy snorted, "Wendy you haven't been shy for the past four years – you should've become more social! Not… terrified. The shower stopped running and Juvia hummed in agreement as she wrapped her wet hair into a bun. "Juvia believes that as well. You look as if you are a deer stuck in front of headlights every time you see him!" She followed that by mimicking Wendy's expression, which in tow made the three girls laugh. The bluenette looked out into the water, remembering how moments ago her teacher had tried to have a conversation with her, to no avail. Her girlfriends had begun walking back towards the beach, and she followed, kicking the sand with her feet and regretting her decisions.

Her mood didn't change when she felt an arm on her shoulders and looked to see Romeo at her side. "Why so down in the dumps?" He asked, grinning as he side-hugged her. She didn't really have time to answer since her guy friend snapped his fingers with his right hand. "I know! Seeing your teacher totally ruined the fun mood, right? How about we leave and chill at Lucy's?" He wasn't really looking at her as he said it, but more towards their group of friends who all agreed in unison. She smiled then, but for the first time ever she felt an urge to shove his arm off and look for her teacher. Yet she didn't. She let his arm stay on her for the next few minutes, before he went ahead and let her go to grab the cooler.

**.-.-.-.**

The sound of music filled the space around them, the annex in Lucy's house being the gang's favorite spot to hang out. With it huge comfortable sofas, wide screen TV, and pool table, it had given them all memories that they could never forget. Wendy now sat Indian-style on the wooden floor while Levy began doing a French braid on her hair. Her mind was working over-time, trying to figure out how she could keep look at her teacher without looking like she would pass out in the next five minutes. Her friends were scattered around the annex: Jellal, Erza, Natsu and Gray were playing pool while Gajeel and Juvia watched intently a show about dinosaurs on the television. Lucy was currently braiding Levy's hair while Romeo played with the three cats and was talking about P.E.

In all other circumstances, Wendy would've been focusing solely on Romeo and talking with him about his time in P.E as well as track. Today, that wasn't the case. She could see the sun setting already, and for some reason she felt a tightness in her stomach as she thought of the few hours left before she saw Mr. M. Biting her lip, she tried to focus on Levy doing her hair; feeling her hands work on her head and make beautiful braids that would definitely last way into the next day. It was working – focusing on Levy pulling her hair lightly all the while acting as if she was interested in what Romeo had to say. But then her phone vibrated, and a familiar name came on her screen.

**(1) New Text Message**  
**From**: Mr. M  
Ms. Marvell, please let all your friends know  
that we'll be painting the walls tomorrow – bring  
clothing that you don't mind ruining with paint.

She nearly passed out when she saw his text message. The fact that her teacher would text to remind her of tomorrow made her heart do a summersault. It was ridiculous, really. Not a minute more passed before her thumbs swept through her phone's digital keyboard.

**Reply**  
Got it, Mr. M! Thanks for the heads up :D  
By the way, what colors are we going to be doing?  
I'm hoping my posters match o_o"

Wendy looked around before tapping send and stuffing the phone back into her pocket. It was odd – through a screen, Wendy chatted with him like he was someone she'd known for years and it seemed like he was cool enough to reply back sometimes. Yet in person? Deer stuck in front of headlights. She breathed out her nose in relief after a good three minutes passed and no one had mentioned her on the phone. "And, done!" Levy said, clapping her hands in triumph and she finished Wendy's second braid.

Feeling her braided hair, the bluenette looked up and smiled widely at her girlfriend, "Levy you are amazing!" Her petite friend smiled, but it somehow didn't reach her eyes. Her mouth opened to speak but was cut off by the sound of her phone vibrating. Levy looked down at her phone and back up at Wendy, an eyebrow rising; behind her, Lucy leaned over and gave her the same reaction. Wendy laughed nervously and was going to give a rather detailed explanation as to why she'd be texting anybody this late, before Lucy nodded upwards.

She knew exactly what that meant: _we are going to casually walk out of the annex, into your bedroom, and you're going to spill it all._ Sighing in defeat, she looked towards Romeo and found herself dumbfounded as he was still talking about his track meet. "I'm gonna go change into my PJ's," she told him, breaking off his long explanation of the shoes he wore. He looked her up and down, giving her a questionable look, "You are wearing your PJ's…" "Other ones," Levy pushed, and Lucy followed with how he should never question a girl who wants to change her outfit.

Putting his hands up in defeat, he motioned towards the door leading out into the rest of the home. The three girls walked briskly towards Wendy's room, Erza and Juvia only looking up momentarily for Levy to give an 'OK' sign. The bluenette didn't even get to sit in her bed as both her girlfriends immediately brought out their right hands. Wendy looked sideways, before going into her pocket and pulling out her wretched phone. "It's not what you think!" she began, as she saw Lucy scroll through her messages with her teacher. "He's just texting me to… to…" Quite frankly, she didn't know why he'd replied so many times to her messages, or why she was a completely different human being through text than in person.

"He's texting to remind you about homework due tomorrow?"  
"Wait, what?"

Wendy stood up from her bed and grabbed the phone from Lucy's hand, only to find they were scrolling through her and her classmate JJ's texts about her Health course. She felt her cheeks go warm, "Right," she said, "He's just texting me to ask about the homework." Levy shook her head and placed an arm on Wendy's shoulder, "If you're so afraid of people catching you texting JJ, I feel like it's because we try to pressure you and Romeo together." Lucy clucked her tongue, "You're right Levy. Wendy I'm sorry if we made you feel obligated to date Romeo, that wasn't what we trying to do. He's just so into you and you look so into him!"

"Into him?" Wendy replied, her own eyebrow rising, "And Romeo's into me?" Both girls looked back at their best friend, their mouth hanging open in awe. "You really must not like him," Lucy said as she nudged Levy, "Y-Yea," she agreed, "It's pretty obvious now." Wendy shook her head, now more confused than ever. She never had seen Romeo as more than a best friend. Yes, he was rather good looking and had many things in common with her, but the though of them dating? She'd be risking their friendship in the process.

The bluenette sighed, rubbing her temples as she walked towards the beginning of her bed and flopped on to it. "Girls, I really think of him as a best friend… and as for me being into someone… no." As she said the final word, she felt an odd tightness in her heart. She was lying, and she knew it. She was lying to her best friends but could they really understand that she was crushing extra hard on their teacher?

**.-.-.-.**

Her alarm went off, the sound of wind chimes bouncing around her room. She stretched her whole entire body, hoping for the billionth time that perhaps this stretch would make her grow an inch or two taller. Opening her eyes, she began to take in the fact that today she'd be painting and decorating her classroom with her teacher and friends. "No biggie," she whispered. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and instantly felt it vibrate. Her eyes widened before squinting again at the bright light her phone gave off.

**(1) New Text Message  
From:** Mr. M  
Rise &amp; Shine! Meet you and the others at 10AM.

Smiling, she let her phone fall on her lap and looked up to the ceiling. Unrequited love wasn't such a bad thing – and to be honest, it's not like any of it would go somewhere. _Most students have crushes on their teachers,_ she thought to herself, _it's completely normal for me to think he's hot. _

**Reply**  
Be there soon! :)

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**It's short because I rather write Mest's view on it. **

**But I digged having Wendy get nervous about her friends catching her texting her teacher c;**

**-Ninaaa~**


	6. A Sunday Spent Painting

**I don't know what it is… but I really enjoy Mest.**

**Even if he didn't do a very smart thing in Chapter 488. I forgive him. So should you.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

**...**

**Mest**

**…**

He heard his tires screech as he rounded the corner and found a parking space closest to the building. Looking at the clock on his dashboard, he sighed heavily as he grabbed two huge brown paper bags and heaved himself out of the car. The heat was beginning to get unbearable and without a cloud in the sky, he groaned at the fact that he still had cans of paint in the truck he'd have to haul over. He looked out towards the building, and saw a few familiar faces staring back at him. Clearly, they were enjoying watching him carry two large paper bags in the August heat without offering to help.

"Unless you want to buy yourselves lunch," he yelled over the bags, "I suggest you come and help!" In less than two minutes, Gajeel, Gray, and Natsu where catching their breaths in front of him. "I… definitely… won…" Gray panted, only to have Natsu push him to the side, "Nuh-uh… Mr. M… saw… I-" "I won! You pansies are out of breath!" Gajeel intervened, only to find himself get shoved by his two guy friends. "Hey, the only winner here is going to be me when I eat all the lunches!" Mest called out, a bit frustrated with the three stooges. He didn't seem to hear Jellal's voice in the mix, but as he had come to figure in the week that he had to get to know them, the blue-haired boy seemed to usually watch from afar and laugh.

Giving one bag to Gajeel and the other to Gray, he motioned for Natsu to follow him towards the trunk. "I should've known you had a Jeep. You're too cool to have a regular compact car like most of our teachers," Natsu stated, bringing his hand up to touch the dark green body. The complement boosted up Mest's attitude – either these kids were really and truly nice, or they really and truly knew how to suck up to the teacher. Either way, letting him know that he's the coolest teacher was enough to make him all soft and mushy inside. He shook his head and took a mental note to stop watching the Saturday morning dramas… it was definitely getting to him. Opening the trunk, Natsu immediately grabbed for two of the three cans of paint. "Thanks, bud," Mest said, before grabbing the last one and closing his trunk.

As they walked towards the front of the school, Mest looked at the boy and back at the four girls. "I'm pretty sure I'm missing two students." Gray scratched his head with his free hand, "Jellal and Erza had made plans to visit their old neighborhood. They do this every last Sunday." The twenty-four-year-old thought back to the student files he had reviewed. Those two kids had an odd background, he faintly remembered something about them living in a church but pulled out by the now Dean of the school. Erza had found a relative to live with, who hadn't known she existed, and Jellal stayed under the care of the Makarov. Although they had an odd background, they seemed to be doing fine. Perhaps they were going to visit the church, which seemed pretty good.

"Why weren't you guys inside?" Mest asked, looking directly at Wendy. She looked at him then down to the floor, which by now he was used to, "We don't exactly have a key to go into the classroom. When we saw you weren't there, we opted to staying outside and waiting." Nodding, Mest brought the paint can up and onto the ledge where he first met Wendy, who was sitting on it and laughing. "I guess I'll have to ask Makarov for a spare, in case I come a tad late, like today. You can just 'open up shop' for me." He smiled at her and the rest of the kids before signaling to them to follow him. As they went through the halls and got closer to the classroom, he looked behind him at the students following suit. "Okay so how about the girls paint one wall and the boys paint the other? First group who finishes gets to eat first... loser has to wait ten minutes before eating." By the time he reached the classroom and began fishing his pocket for his keys, chaos had ensued between the group.

Natsu was currently arguing with Wendy and Lucy, who were making fun of him. Juvia and Levy were apologizing to Gajeel and Gray for having to eat first, while the two yelled that the competition hadn't even begun. Mest laughed and opened the door, the once quiet classroom becoming loud as the students walked in yelling and laughing at each other. On Friday, after everyone had left, Mest had stayed behind to move the desks to the back of the classroom, figuring that they'd have more space to walk around and paint. Gajeel and Gray placed the brown paper bags on top of two desks, while Natsu and Mest placed the cans of paint in the center of the room. The teacher sighed heavily, intertwining his fingers and feeling his bones crack. "As stated, guys will paint the left wall, and ladies will paint the right. One of those brown bags has paint brushes and platters. Any paint that drips onto the floor, your team will lose points." Gray began to take out several paint brushes from the paper bag as Lucy walked over next to Mest, eyeing the paint buckets. "Is that light yellow?" Mest bent over and began opening the lids of two cans with a small lid opener the store had provided him, "It's apparently Daffodil. Soft primary colors are the best for stimulating bright young minds like yourselves."

Gajeel scoffed, "Mr. M, have you met your students? Natsu is a stupid as a doorknob." On the other side of the room, a heavy sigh escaped from Levy, "Gajeel, its as 'dumb' as a doorknob." The students began to laugh while Gajeel yelled about how Levy always made him look bad. Mest couldn't help but chuckle himself, and looked to the side to see his teacher assistant laughing as well. She definitely looked different when she smiled - it was as if through every breath, she exhaled all the weight that was on her shoulders. He stared for a few more seconds before getting up and pointing to Gray and Juvia, "Grab your designated paint cans. Ms. Marvell and I will paint the wall with the board on it - and before you ask, Lucy, it's Marshmallow." He heard the blonde snort and mention how it seemed like he had a soft spot. That could be true, but he would never admit to it; ignoring her comment, he grabbed for the third can of paint and lifted it onto his desk. "Alright Wendy, I trust that you'll set a timer for your friends... give 'em..." "Twenty minutes!" She blurted, earning herself an awed expression from Mest whilst her friends argued about the time. "Wendy, this classroom is huge! How are we supposed to make a perfect painted wall in twenty minutes? I can't even reach the top!" Levy complained, already measuring how high she'd be able to paint while tip-toeing. Gray also complained, stating that Gajeel wasn't even going to try.

Looking at the pierced guy, Mest shrugged and nodded in agreement as Gajeel cleaned his ear and flicked earwax towards Natsu. "The teacher assistant has spoken!" he exclaimed, looking toward Wendy with a smile on his face, "And to be honest, it's going to be harder for us. We gotta paint corners and also not get paint on the board." He heard his assistant cluck her tongue, and then Juvia laugh, "That's what you get for making Juvia and the others suffer." Mest pulled out his phone while the students kept bickering and set a timer for twenty minutes. "Alright, alright, let's get this show on the road. I want my food already." His students agreed, and as everyone began grabbing their supplies, he felt the atmosphere inside his classroom ease. His first week hadn't really been rainbows and butterflies. Going from taking out bad guys and investigating crimes to teaching algebraic equations and studying Hamlet was on a whole other level of difficulty. Now realizing that his teacher assistant was capable of making him feel at ease, he grabbed a brush for her and a a single pan to place the paint on.

"Wendy, I'm going to be terribly honest with you," he said, walking towards her as she placed blue tape on the border of the whiteboard, "As great of a English, Math, and Science teacher as I am, I suck at painting." His student looked up at him, "Well, I'm pretty good at it so if you want you can do everything but the corners. I don't want to get any paint on the board." Hearing her come up with a gameplan made the twenty-four year old laugh, "Ms. Marvell, I did not think you were such a strategic lady. I'll skip on making you help me grade the next exam we have just because that's the first time I've seen you take initiative on something." Winking at her, he grabbed for his phone, momentarily hearing a squeal. Looking up, he saw all his students planning out their twenty-minute competition. "The time has come! On your mark..." He grabbed his paint brush with his free hand, the students following, "Get set..." he placed his hand on the bucket filled with paint, ready to place it on the pan, "GO!"

...

The twenty minutes seemed more like ten, as everyone began to speak at the same time and guide their partners on where to paint next. A few times there were a number of gasps, yelps, and insults as paint 'almost' touched the floor or dripped on the wall. Both Mest and Wendy had worked in silence, only mentioning if they were moving to grab more paint or, in Wendy's case, needing a hand painting higher up the wall. It was pretty relaxing to work with the bluenette, since she pretty much became self-absorbed into the work and needed very minimal instruction, if any. The small smile that played on her face was cute, and a slight tug was felt in Mest's chest. But that certainly was due to the burrito he had for lunch, obviously - heartburn was a terrible thing, really. The alarm on the teacher's cellphone blared, everyone finishing their brushstroke and setting down their paintbrushes in their designated pans. "Time's up, huh? It didn't even feel like twenty minutes." Mest placed both hands on his hips and looked to his left, right, and then behind him. "Alright, girls inspect the boys wall, guys inspect the girls." Not a second passed as the students jumped over their paint materials are began eyeing their 'opponents' walls.

As they inspected each inch of the walls, Mest moved forward towards the lingering brown paper bag that held the prize: food. "What the hell?!" Natsu yelled, "I see nothing wrong with their damn wall!" The twenty-four year old looked over, smirking at Gray who was on the floor inspecting for drops and Gajeel who had gotten on top of a desk to look at the top. "How the hell did the Shrimp get up here?!" The girls, on the other side of the room, only scoffed. "We obviously used the desks," Levy commented, while Juvia and Lucy kept looking around their wall. "It seems that the boys did a good job too," Juvia said halfheartedly. Mest grabbed the brown paper bag and placed it in the middle of the room, where he had originally placed the cans of paint. "Well, if it's a tie then I guess we can all-" "Hold up!" Natsu intervened, "We never checked your wall, Mr.M!" Mr. M chuckled, looking towards Wendy with an arched eyebrow. "Ms. Marvell is practically Van Gogh's protege, right?"His student assistant laughed rather loud, with a bit of a nervous undertone. He blinked, "R-right?"

Lucy and Gray walked towards the front wall and took under a minute to begin pointing out small drips. Mest's mouth fell open as the two pointed at him and Wendy, claiming that they had lost the competition and therefore would have to wait ten minutes to eat. "Ten minutes?!" they both said in unison, before looking at each other and touching their temples. "That's not weird at all," Gajeel commented at the sight of them having the same reaction. Mr. M sighed heavily, ignoring his student's commentary, "Only a real man is true to his words." He motioned for everyone to sit on the floor, as he plopped down himself. Wendy walked in defeat and sat in the small space between him and Lucy. "I'm a complete failure," she said dramatically, as she watched her friends start gobbling the bento boxes Mest had bought at the near supermarket. "Oh, cheer up," Mest said, patting her softly in the back, "At least you aren't thinking about cutting off your ear." Levy snorted, making the others in the room laugh as well. Wendy looked up towards Mest, her cheeks red but a smile appearing, "Yea, I guess so."

They both stayed looking at each other for about five seconds before looking away. It was strange - somehow Mest become flustered by that small comment. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and sighed, "It's hot and I'm hungry. How many minutes left, Natsu?" "Two!" Wendy answered for him, groaning miserably and watching as Lucy mocked her as she bit into her sandwich. So Wendy was apparently very dramatic when she was hungry? Mest thought about this, noting the new side of Wendy that was far different from her soft-spoken and shy self. It was odd, how much he had come to think of his teacher assistant in the week that they had known each other. She was quite different from the rest of her social and rather barbaric group of friends. More... adult-like. The only other two like her were Jellal and Erza, but since they didn't come from the same orphanage (as he had read in their files) it seemed that their interactions were very limited, at least in school.

"Mr. M, we can eat now you know..." her voice brought him back to reality, looking down as he saw a bento box get placed in front of him. Juvia and Gray were staring at him, Gray particularly holding up a cellphone. "Mr. M just spaced out. He's got some drool." Immediately he went to touch his face and has the students laugh at him, "Hah, funny!" He pointed towards Gray, "Fullbuster, I'll make you do extra assignments if you post that up." Gray only laughed before sticking the cellphone back into his pocket. "What are we going to do with the back wall, Mr. M?" Levy asked, pointing towards the back where all the chairs and desks were piled up. "It's a special surprise," Mest mused, "You'll find out on Friday."

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**Ah, you'll all find out on Friday... ;)**

**Nina~**


End file.
